We need a win for confidence sake, it will also be good to have Houston be 2 up on Houston.

pageC4

11/09/2013 - 09:15 AM PST

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I am definitely not going to watch this one. After 12 years of being a fan you get very emotional, and when the Clippers play like they have been recently its very hard to watch. This team really needs to get it together.

sz123456

11/09/2013 - 10:16 AM PST

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If we win, instills a lot of confidence against a potential playoff foe, if we lose we're officially under the radar which might be good for us. Win/win situation I think

Silasie

11/09/2013 - 10:46 AM PST

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Your definitely a cup half full man I see!

Voyeur

11/09/2013 - 10:52 AM PST

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I'm going into this game without expectations. Both team coming off losses. But this is in Houston and they will look for payback. I expect Harden to have a big game. Hopefully, he'll still play terrible defense, but who knows?

What I'm hoping is that we continue to execute our motion offense. And I'm hoping to see an improved defense overall...despite whatever the outcome may be.

Agent0

11/09/2013 - 10:59 AM PST

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He's played terrible defense all season so far, so I wouldn't expect any less

Harden really is an awful defender

Silasie

11/09/2013 - 11:01 AM PST

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Well lets hope JJ and JCross make them pay then..............if he's on them that is.

ClipperPostman

11/09/2013 - 12:46 PM PST

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Getting it together is what they are doing.

I don't understand why the analysts and fans are expecting the clippers to come in guns blazing when they have a lot of new players, an entirely new defensive AND offensive system, and new coaching staff from the top down.

When the big 3 got together in Miami that first year, the first 30 games of the season were up and down and everyone was calling them a bust.

I remember the coach in an interview said look, "We know it's going to take time to get it all together, our timetable is much different than everyone elses.

So I just don't understand how Clippers fans expect the clippers to all of a sudden in 6 games be the top team in the league. Give it 30 or so games.

It's an 82 game season for christ sake.

I guarantee you come playoff time, there won't be one team wanting to see us in the first 2 rounds.

Agent0

11/09/2013 - 01:50 PM PST

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There are always over-reactions to the beginning of the season, every single year. That's why it is always great to have broader perspective. The Clippers have a schedule for the first 20 games that coming out 11-9 in would be a pretty decent result, 12-8 would be good, 13-7 would be very good, anything above would be extremely good based on the opponents.

So if people are expecting the team to be winning at a .700 rate to start, the expectations are unrealistic. I'd rather have this tougher start because this is a talented team that could have had some misconceptions that things won't be too challenging. Not that they think it will be easy, I doubt they do, but they might think "we are ____ good" and certain things should go smoothly. I don't want it to go smoothly, I want struggles that force this team to grow, "challenge and change". I want struggles that forces the management to say "hey our roster isn't where it needs to be yet". I want struggles that make the players say "hey, I need to take it up a notch", and that's what will make this team a good team in the post-season.

I want those struggles early so that the team isn't trying to adjust its style later on when there just isn't enough time for that.

If you gave me the schedule for the first 6 games before the season I would probably say:

@LAL - W

vs GS - (50/50 W-L)

@Sac - W

vs Hou - W

@Orl - W

@Mia - L

So I would predict 4-2 or 5-1 cause I'm a Clippers fan, so 1-2 losses off. The actual record is 3-3. I would not have predicted the Orlando loss, but I wouldn't have assumed Orlando would be the 4th ranked defense 6 games into the season and holding teams to the second lowest eFG% at .419 (only Indiana is better at .411) in a league where the average is .490 and the Clippers give up a terrible .541 eFG%.

You look at the next 14 games (* = second game of back to back) and just do a bit of prediction:

@ Hou (4-2) - L

vs Min (4-2) - W

vs OKC (4-1) - W

vs Bkn (2-3) - W

vs Mem (2-3) - W

@ Min (4-2) - L

*@ OKC (4-1) - L

vs Sac (1-4) - W

*vs Chi (2-3) - W

vs NY (2-3) - W

@Sac (1-4) - W

vs Ind (6-0) - L

@Atl (2-3) - W

@Mem (2-3) - L

Let's say 9-5 is a pretty balanced outcome (8-6 is also quite reasonable, Brooklyn or Chicago could be a loss), that will put the team at 12-8 (.600, 49 win pace) 20 games into the season, some people might panic at being only 4 games above .500, but the rest of the 13 games in December 9-4 is a reasonable outcome, that's a 52 win pace (21-12, .636) by the end of December. January has some teams that maybe won't be too good down the road (Charlotte, Boston, Detroit, Charlotte again, Toronto, Milwaukee) you don't win all the ones that you should, but you also win some of the 60-40 ones (on the road vs another playoff team kind of game) and for that month, 12-4 is possible, and suddenly the team is 33-16 (.673), on pace for 55 wins.

February has some tough matchups, but again in March, a LOT of winnable games are there in those 15 games.

So that's why we have to understand the marathon nature of the season. The schedule is never balanced, so first of all we have to take that into account, and secondly early records are not determinant of long term outcome just because you've played so few teams.

toohipcliptoslip

11/09/2013 - 03:25 PM PST

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These are also road loses

FightOnRon

11/09/2013 - 05:38 PM PST

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I don't even know what to expect tonight,really have no handle on this team right now.

Voyeur

11/09/2013 - 05:50 PM PST

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Dudley's been checked out by doctor's and given a thumbs up to play. Doc will probably limit his minutes, however.

FreaKeyy

11/09/2013 - 06:00 PM PST

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We're not the only one who are having problems. I think Rockets are facing a much worse issue. Apparently Dwight is already complaining about the PGs. To make matters worse, he's not the only immature star they have, their other star James Harden is causing some team chemistry issues too. Look at this http://www.sportsgrid.com/nba/this-weird-on-court-exchange-between-jam es-harden-and-jeremy-lin/

Agent0

11/09/2013 - 07:10 PM PST

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^Memphis is struggling, Chicago is struggling, Brooklyn is struggling if we're talking about 5-6 games in. Houston is having chemistry issues though, so I'd rather have losing some games we expected to win issues than chemistry issues for sure.

On the road on the second night of a back to back vs Miami, this isn't really a loss we can complain about unless we expect to win them all.

Orlando surprised people because of expectations, but a road loss against the league's 4th best defense while we could have won is not as bad as it seems.

Clipper-Josh

11/09/2013 - 07:19 PM PST

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Vladimir Radmonovic has more post game than Blake.....geeeeez

Agent0

11/09/2013 - 07:22 PM PST

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Dudley looking good using his dribble and pulling up for jumpshots. He's actually an excellent mid-range shooter from what I remember, that's a shot he can hit consistently

Dwight Howard is a guy Blake has zero advantage over in the post. He can't overpower him, he can't shoot over him, Dwight isn't slow where he can just blow by him off the dribble. He can just hope to use fakes and get him off his feet or something.

pedroskinny

11/09/2013 - 07:23 PM PST

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Griffin not afraid to hit some jumpers. I love it. On the other hand, he needs to be more aggressive. Asik is s**t.

ClipperKyle32

11/09/2013 - 07:24 PM PST

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Clippers look decent against a surprisingly dysfunctional Houston Team

Just try to ignore his presence on the court unless you might hurt someone

CP3Heliflopter

11/09/2013 - 07:40 PM PST

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If only we had last year's bench with this year's starters. We would be unstoppable. Collison looks like turd atm, Mullens is turd 90% of the time, Hollins is foul prone, Barnes is injured, Crawford is good offensively but he is almost as bad on D. Not looking good.

Clippersfan86

11/09/2013 - 07:42 PM PST

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CP3 chokes on the road seemingly every game vs good teams. Where is his aggression FFS? Is he uncoachable? Doesn't listen,to Vinny or Doc.

ClippersDA

11/09/2013 - 07:42 PM PST

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Can't win with our best player playing like an amateur.

CP3Heliflopter

11/09/2013 - 07:45 PM PST

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Crawful.

Grillinnap

11/09/2013 - 07:46 PM PST

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Our bench is killing us again.

ClipperDodger1214

11/09/2013 - 07:47 PM PST

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Crawford is absolutely terrible tonight.

Grillinnap

11/09/2013 - 07:48 PM PST

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Clippers giving our haters a reason to smile.

CP3Heliflopter

11/09/2013 - 07:48 PM PST

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Jamal Crawful, Collison and Bullock trying to give the game away on both ends of the floor.

Clippersfan86

11/09/2013 - 07:49 PM PST

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Blown out like I expected. This is a first round exit team unless RADICAL changes happen.

clipper*joe

11/09/2013 - 07:49 PM PST

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And to think we were one of 3 teams with the top 10 defense and offense last season.

Dunkathon

11/09/2013 - 07:50 PM PST

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A ten point lead isn't a blow out.

Never the less, not looking good for the Clippers.

CP3Heliflopter

11/09/2013 - 07:51 PM PST

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Which was misleading considering our defense collapsed later in the season into a below average defense. Also our defense in the playoffs was completely turdtastic. We made Memphis look like a great offensive team and they were shut down by OKC and Spurs offensively.

Right now our bench is really atrocious especially defensively while the defense our bench had last season was superb.

Our starting unit has like a defensive rating of 98 but our team defense rating is 110. That is how crappy our bench is defensively.

ClipperKyle32

11/09/2013 - 07:52 PM PST

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I do not like how we give up on our team 7 games into the season! We are terrible fans! Obviously there will be a move made to find another backup big because Doc wouldn't have let Amundson and Davies go if he had nothing else in mind